One Hamburg resident sounds off about the petition for a referendum on Germany’s smoking ban and why it is a step in the wrong direction. These days, local bar/restaurant owners in Berlin are currently gathering signatures on petitions for a referendum to make enforcement of a smoking ban voluntary in Germany’s food-serving establishments, where smoking has been prohibited since January 1, 2008. The referendum, if successful, would allow restaurant owners themselves to decide whether patrons may smoke. Similar petitions have been circulating in my adopted city, Hamburg, where I h ... Jump to full article >>

The Canadian Quit&Win 2009 Challenge, a yearly smoking cessation competition, has chosen NicCheck I once again to be the test they used to confirm smoking cessation. [ClickPress, Fri May 15 2009] Mossman Associates, Inc., announced today that the Canadian Quit&Win 2009 Smoking Cessation Challenge, a yearly smoking cessation competition, has chosen NicCheck I once again to be the test they used to confirm smoking cessation among the potential contest winners. All contestants had smoked daily for at least one year and are 18 years of age or older. The contestants are required to abstain ... Jump to full article >>

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Camel ads coupled with illustrations promoting rock music in Rolling Stone magazine violated the tobacco industry’s decade-old promise not to use cartoons to sell cigarettes to minors, a Philadelphia judge ruled Wednesday. A spokesman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said the ruling is a full victory over R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., and the first decision in lawsuits filed by attorneys general in nine states that ordered monetary damages. An R.J. Reynolds spokesman said the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company will appeal. Judge William J. Manfredi order ... Jump to full article >>

In an article that ran on April 18 titled “Unfairly Tarred,” columnist Sandra Zummo wondered if we are being too hard on smokers? She referenced the new sobering ads that refer to the impact smoking has on those around us. Although these commercials present jarring images, they are certainly truthful and an effective aid to help smokers understand that they hurt not only themselves when they light up, but those around them as well. Miss Zummo noted that past ad campaigns showing the effects of smoking on a person’s health were “scary, but effective.” These new ads ... Jump to full article >>

A U.C. San Francisco study has revealed that young adults who deeply believe that the tobacco industry is composed of low-down, degenerate, gutless, slimy, watermelon-fucking sons of bitches are far less likely to smoke than their colleagues with less malevolent feelings toward Big Tobacco. While this seems like the ultimate no-brainer, UCSF scientists say the data reveals a lot; this, they claim, is the first study to ever link interviewees’ attitudes toward the tobacco industry to 18-to-25-year-olds’ actual behavior. Depending upon young adults’ responses to queries like & ... Jump to full article >>

THE Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control is pushing to have graphic images highlighting the dangers of smoking, displayed on cigarette packages by next January as a way of deterring Jamaicans from lighting up. Under the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control treaty of which Jamaica is a signatory, tobacco manufacturers will be expected to have the graphics displayed on 50 per cent of the package. Dawn Williams (left) communications officer of the Caribbean Tobacco Control Project, which falls under the Heart Foundation of Jamaica/Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco ... Jump to full article >>

Contrary to an email message that the Food and Drug Administration seems to have sent accidentally, the agency did not announce enforcement actions against leading distributors of electronic cigarettes yesterday. Craig Youngblood, CEO of the e-cigarette company inLife, says an FDA official told him the message contained “inaccurate information,” but it’s not clear whether that means the “extensive rollout” described in the notice has been called off or merely delayed. “Some of the people I know are saying a ban is imminent,” says Youngblood, but “ ... Jump to full article >>

Despite its having been touted as a way to close budget gaps, city and state officials have backed off plans to crack down on the $1.6 billion black market for cigarettes. The sole city unit targeting illegal tobacco full time has been reassigned, and a new law aimed at Indian reservations — the prime source of the butts — hasn’t been enforced. A city squad formed in 2007 to sting stores selling unstamped, untaxed cigarettes — which cost the city $195 million in lost tax revenue a year — has been reassigned by the Finance Department, The Post has learned. The six ... Jump to full article >>

8 May, 2009 – Customs officials in Phuentsholing are in a dilemma. They have successfully confiscated tobacco products worth over one million ngultrums since 2007, but they don’t know what to do with the stockpiled contraband in their store. “We can’t burn, dump or sell the tobacco to where it came from,” said a customs official. “How long can we go on storing them?” he wondered. Seized goods in the past were burnt, but after they came under environment scrutiny, they started their storage. “Selling it back would be against world health organis ... Jump to full article >>

WASHINGTON — After being stingy with their support in the early days of the Obama administration, significant numbers of House Republicans have begun breaking from their party leaders and voting for legislation moving through the Democratic-led Congress. Scores of House Republicans joined Democrats in recent days in pushing through measures meant to rein in credit card companies, increase federal resources to pursue financial fraud and crack down on predatory housing lenders — all legislation opposed by top House Republicans. On the credit card and financial fraud bills, only a m ... Jump to full article >>

For the non-smoking public, nothing takes the luster off a night out on the town with friends or a dinner with the family like a smelly, smoke-filled environment. But even worse than a foggy social atmosphere is the actual harm that second-hand cigarette smoke does to the lungs and circulatory system of those who inhale it. It’s a condition the public and many public officials are getting serious about — including those in North Carolina. Senate lawmakers stepped up for better public health last week when they gave preliminary approval, voting 26-16, to ban smoking in the stateR ... Jump to full article >>